Can some one tell me why I don't like these spreads

[sagelike31]

It's my first foray into this type of arrangement. I hoping to get much more experience over the next couple of months to do something like this professionally.

The shots here are made up of an old hospital around my way. I'm looking at these and I'm not really feeling it. Not sure why. Maybe you can tell me why.

[alissasanderson]

Hmmm. I like them, as abstract-type art, if that's what you're going for. I think the layout is nice, and aesthetically pleasing, and as I've seen such things for sale around here I know there's a market. And the photos individually are good. But as I'm not familiar with what you're photographing, I can't seem to get a sense of the building as a whole. My brain keeps trying to put the pieces together so that I can picture the complete structure, and I can't do it. Perhaps that's the issue?

I really like the shots looking upwards, where I can see the clouds, and the ones that include the tree branches. Very dramatic.

[rjb_FotoTaker]

I am the last person to give advice, but to me at first glance the first image; the middle picture should be more like the second image with some diagonal lines and it has more dead space than the others.

just my 1.5 cents

[Nicole]

Nope I can't say why you don't like them.

My feeling on them is that they're too busy. For me, there's too many pictures in a single frame. I don't know where to look, so it causes me to lose interest. (My $0.02)

That said, they are some really well composed photos and I like the simplicity of them.

Good luck figuring out what it is you don't like about them yourself

[jiminyClickit]

sagelike,
I like the frame.

Are you an architect, or a photgrapher? Do you know any architects? Maybe you aren't feeling the subject, more than the photos or layout itself. What was the intent when you picked each one?
Do you have one whizbang, best-shot-ever building-related B/W, full-sized, and with a quote not in italic? That would grab the eye.
Or a group of three various-sized photos in an eye-pleasing attention-holding arrangement?
Sorry, can't answer this one. Sometimes less is more (see Reply#2).

[googlit]

the background behind the pics is a little too busy. Either pick something a little more subtle or pull the pattern into photoshop and make it much lighter.

Some of the shots don't have a full tonal range... for example, the bottom-left one in the first spread is very grey--no contrast. You might try putting a white, black, or grey border around each of the pics.

I would also play with the text some... maybe pick a different font, center the quote, and right-justify the person's name.

At first blush, I didn't realize that the pics had a unified theme (besides architecture). Might try to emphasize that somehow.

just a few thoughts. the shots are good, it's just that the layout could use some tweaking.

[sagelike31]

Thanks for the comments all.

I do agree with Googlit that the the background is a bit busy. The problem with that is when I make it a generic white background the pictures look like they have block dots on the edges (you've seen this before in optical illusions). Background is something I definitely have to work on. Also, on another point you made the fact that the shots were in BW probably doesn't give the viewer much to look at. In hindsight I should have left it in color. I took these shots in the morning so they hard very nice warm tones. Should have kept it that way.....but again the building was old so I was trying to give it that old look.

To JiminyClickit..nope I'm not an architect. Just and amateur photographer that likes art. You are probably right, I probably need to kill the amount of pictures there.

To Nicole....yeah the busyness of it seems to be the overall problem here.

To Rjb_FotoTaker......yeah that middle shot bothered me a bit also. One of those things to look out for next time.

To Alissasanderson.....I totally agree with the fact that I don't put together how the building looks. And I think I that is what my initial problem was.

In a couple of days I have another arrangement coming so I'll put it up for your critique. But thanks for this it really helped.

Anyone else with views, that would be great.

[spartan sojourner]

I like the idea and I think the emotion you are trying to evoke is there. Since you asked, here are my two cents. In the first grouping of photos, you did a great job in keeping with a theme, but I think the problem is that most of the photos do not have a real focal point. It seems to me that you want each photo to make an impact with the viewer, and then for the combined work to be the exclamation point. The second grouping does a much better job of having a focal point in each photo while still having a common theme, but I think the center photo is two distracting because its color composition is very different and it doesn't fit the theme of the pictures. I think you either need to find another close up shot with similar color or, you might be able to use one of your shots of the building to give the viewers the impression that these all are surrounding one building as opposed to being pictures taken throughout a city. The lower right picture from the first set might fit very well for this purpose. Good luck and looking forward to seeing more!

~SS

[malcolm]

My two penneth,

Personally I would lose the middle pic and put the quote in the centre spot. I agree with others re the backgound being too busy.
Malc

[Redrabbit]

Maybe the middle picture in the top set dont belong. But not sure. Other than that I think it is good and cant wait to see your next sets.